


Cramped Quarters

by Emby



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Child Neglect, De-Aged Tony Stark, Gen, Kid Tony Stark, Protective Clint Barton, Sick Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:33:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26170456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emby/pseuds/Emby
Summary: A self-sufficient 6 year old is is probably a sign of a not so good childhood.
Relationships: Clint Barton & Tony Stark
Comments: 5
Kudos: 250
Collections: Tinytony





	Cramped Quarters

Clint’s been taking care of Kid Tony in Pepper’s absence for about a week now and he has to admit the kid is growing on him. He's a far cry from the train wreck adult Tony Stark had been. This kid is so well behaved and easy to get along with. How the hell did this turn into Stark? 

Clint can just give him breakfast and Tony will keep himself busy for the rest of the day leaving him to relax on the couch. If all kids were like this maybe it wouldn't be that hard to raise one. 

He snorts, he's not having kids this experience is enough. It does also help that nobody else is home to nag him. He had an older brother, so he can take care of kids just fine. 

"Mister Clint?" He doesn't jump but it's a damn near thing. He pastes a smile on his face "What's up kid?" Tiny Tony takes such quiet steps he wonders where he learned that from.

"I need a mop." Clint chuckles this kid is self cleaning too. He leans over the couch pointing in the direction of the kitchen. "In the closet next to the fridge should be all the cleaning supplies that you need." 

“Thank you.” 

He watches him fumble with the mop that’s taller than he is long. The thought crosses his mind: are cleaner fumes toxic? Nah they couldn't be why would household cleaners be toxic.

Clint turns his attention back to the TV, yawning as he flicks through the channels. It’s not long before his eyes get too heavy and the remote drops from his fingers. 

~ 

He’s not sure what wakes him but Something's wrong. It’s late he conked out hard. “Ah shit, Tony.” He rolls off the couch heading towards the room they've set him up in. He’s been good at putting himself to bed. But tonight when Clint pokes his head in, he’s not there. Clint’s not worried, why would he be worried? Tony stark is just the smartest man on earth, but now he’s a kid and unpredictable. He’s not panicking nope- not at all. He's probably in the lab and lost track of time. 

But he does walk just a little faster. 

The lab is a bust, there's no sign anyone had been in the lab for weeks. DUM-E and U whirr excitedly at the sight of him. "You guys haven't seen Tony have you?" If robots could be sad these guys were. 

He heads back up to the main floor. He thought Tony would have been down in the workshop at least sometime in the week. He was a gifted kid and Clint gave him free reign of the place so why hadn't he even gone in. 

His heart drops to his stomach when he opens the door and Tony isn’t there. He goes through the room, the closet, the attached office. The bathroom stops him, the mop Tony had asked for earlier lies on the floor next to a spilled bucket of water. 

When Tony had asked for the mop, he thought that he’d spilled a drink or something but there’s a puddle of sick on the floor. It looks like he was in the middle of cleaning but he got sick again.

He can admit he’s panicking now, he runs through the tower looking for the tiny benefactor. Tony at this age is too quiet and it’s now that Clint thinks maybe his quietness isn’t borne of etiquette training but from a place not dissimilar to his own. 

“Tony!”

He checks all the rooms again finding nothing till in a last ditch effort he tries to check Tony and Pepper's floor which needs an access code to even get up there. 

When he presses the elevator buttons imagine his surprise when the elevator takes him up.

The floor is spacious and well lived in. If he wasn't desperately searching for a small child he would take time to observe how the billionaire lived out of the public eye. 

There's a crushing relief when he spots the Captain America toy that hasn't left Tony's side, at the table. At least now he knows he's on the right track. 

Their room is spacious but Clint doesn't have to look very hard. The bed frame is one of those ones that have storage drawers underneath. One of them is pulled out and that has to be where Tony is hiding. And sure enough when he gets on his hands and knees to peek into the space he finds the boy. Curled up and shivering.

How did he not notice how pale he was. "Tony hey Buddy can you come out from under there?" Tony doesn't move and Clint can only hear the air wheezing from his mouth. "Fuck." He doesn't want to hurt him by just dragging him out but he’s sick. 

"Hey Tony."

An eye cracks open and he coughs. “I’m sorry.” “No bud, there’s nothing to be sorry for. It’s pretty cramped in there, can you come out?” Tony shuffles back coughing. 

He sends a quick apology in the air to Pepper wherever she is before pulling out blankets from the closet. And these are the expensive soft comfy ones. He makes a little nest in front of the drawer space hoping to draw Tony out. 

“Tony?” There’s a frown on his face like he didn’t expect for Clint to still be there. “Do you like tomato soup or chicken noodle?” Tonys eye open and the confusion on his face worries him. “Why?” “I’m gonna make you some soup to help you feel better.” He sits up a little bit “Is this a trick?” 

“No Tony, this isn’t a trick, I know when i”m not feeling well, I’d like some soup” 

“I’m not sick, I’m made of Iron.”

There’s something heer that he’s missing here. “Well, I still want to make you soup so what’ll it be, kid?” 

Tony hide his face in his arms “Can- can you make Minestrone? My mom used to make it when-” he cuts himself off looking anxious. 

Oh. 

“Of course. I’ll be right back bud.” Clint stands promising he won’t take too long. 

He’s a little bit surprised to find that all the ingredients for the soup are in the kitchen. But the thought doesn’t stick around. He’s frustrated. 

As the water boils Clint kicks himself. God, how did he not see it. He’s lived in a shitty house before he can see the signs in other people, how did he not see it now? He knows what it's like to walk on eggshells because one false step means countless bruises. He knows that making yourself scarce is one way to make him forget you don’t exist. Tony’s only six and even then nobody should have to live like that. 

When the soup is done he takes a bowl back to the room.

He’s relieved to see that Tony made his way out of the cramped space and is in the nest of blankets. Clint wakes him up and he's disoriented but when he smells the soup it's something familiar that he doesn’t hesitate to take a few bites. Tony doesn't eat that much which is expected but he's more relaxed than he had been previous. 

"How are you feeling bud."  
Tony yawns pulling the blanket to his chin. "I'm ok" 

"Do you want to hear a story?"

"I don't need a story." 

"Well I need a story before I go to bed." 

So he tells him a story of a Blacksmith with a heart so big he had to cover it in iron. Everyone thought because his heart was covered in iron he couldn't feel anything so they said mean things to him and made him into someone he didn't want to be. When he goes to sell his wares people sneer and say "Nobody would buy from the likes of you, you have no good heart" Even if all he had brought to sell were figurines, they believed that all the things he made had to be for evil. 

"But that wasn't the case!" Tony despite his initial disinterest is enthralled. "He was a kind man who wanted to make things to make people happy. But because people believed that his cruel heart should only make weapons he stuck to making weapons. Even though he didn't want to." He continues to tell the tale of how the man one day made a friend who didn't care what his heart looked like and thought his other creations were magnificent works of art. He learned that he shouldn't care what people thought of him and should do what makes him happy. 

"And then what happens." Tony yawns a soft smile on his lips. 

"The man went on to build the most amazing works of art then he made so many friends and was finally happy." 

Tony falls asleep smiling as he snuggles into the blankets. Clint brushes the curly hair out of his face and makes a promise right then and there, a promise to take better care of him even after he’s back to normal.

His legs fall asleep but he doesn’t mind. He’ll sit here till Tony gets better. He's gonna do a better job taking care of this kid. 

A noise in the other room puts him on edge till he remembers Pepper was supposed to be back today and he can hear the telltale clicks of her heels. 

There’s a look of surprise on her face when she enters the bedroom. “Clint what the hell are you-” he shushes her quickly pointing to the tiny genius who sleeps away peacefully. Her face softens before turning to a frown. She crouches next to him and places a hand on his head. 

“I knew he was getting sick, you know he still has all his tells.” She murmurs. 

“I wouldn’t know em, I guess I don’t know Tony as well as I thought.” she pats his shoulder “He doesn’t make it easy, don’t take it personally.” 

He looks so peaceful in his sleep, no sign of sickness, worry or fear on his face. 

“Thank you for taking care of him while I was gone Clint.” she lifts the tiny genius onto the bed tucking him in. 

He shrugs standing “I didn’t do a very good job of it, I just hope he doesn’t remember this.”

“He’s probably not going to want to talk about it if he does but he probably will appreciate that you took care of him Clint. It's more than he thinks he deserves.” 

“Jesus, his parents really did a number on him huh?” 

“Well, he has us now right?” 

“Right.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, don't expect much from me School's back in and I've got a job. I tried to challenge myself to write 500 words and be done in a day. That did not happen. It is 2am.


End file.
